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Laurence Olivier played Malcolm in the 1929 production and Macbeth in 1937 at the Old Vic Theatre in a production that saw the Vic's artistic director Lilian Baylis pass away the night before it opened.

Olivier's makeup was so thick and stylised for that production that Vivien Leigh was quoted as saying " You hear Macbeth's first line, then Larry's makeup comes on, then Banquo comes on, then Larry comes on ".

Olivier later starred in what is among the most famous 20th-century productions, by Glen Byam Shaw at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1955.

Vivien Leigh played Lady Macbeth.

The supporting cast, which Harold Hobson denigrated, included many actors who went on to successful Shakespearean careers: Ian Holm played Donalbain, Keith Michell was Macduff, and Patrick Wymark the Porter.

Olivier was the key to success.

The intensity of his performance, particularly in the conversation with the murderers and in confronting Banquo's ghost, seemed to many reviewers to recall Edmund Kean.

Plans for a film version faltered after the box-office failure of Olivier's Richard III.

Kenneth Tynan asserted flatly of this performance that " no one has ever succeeded as Macbeth "— until Olivier.